As the economic crisis stabilizes and renewed optimism builds, manufacturing industry professionals take stock in what will help them survive in the new economy. With an interest in making employees efficient, reducing training costs and maintaining a company culture, some manufacturers are turning to learning management systems to achieve their goals.

Corporate training has shifted over the last 10 years from a complete classroom learning experience to one that mixes classroom learning with online learning. Online learning, typically in the form of Webinars or e-learning courses, allow employees to work at their pace, track their progress and see instant results through a learning management system (LMS). An LMS is the software application that companies use to administer training — helping an organization manage training for a few employees or thousands of people.

“Historically, LMS has really only been available to Fortune 500 and Global 1,000 companies due to the high cost of implementation,” explains Jeff Walter, CEO of Latitude Learning[1]. Latitude Learning offers a flexible and configurable LMS and an open-source LMS for professional training companies, OEMs and franchisers. “Over the last 5 years cloud-based LMS have emerged. These cloud-based systems have allowed the cost of LMS entry to drop dramatically, giving moderate and small sized companies the ability to take advantage of these systems.”